When to Hire A Bad Faith Insurance Lawyer
Hiring a bad faith insurance lawyer will protect your interests and help ensure your insurance provider fulfills their obligation.
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss.
When you purchase insurance, you can rest assured your insurance provider will help pay the financial obligations you encounter during an automotive accident, hospital visit, or other events. This obligation is written in the contract you sign.
Sometimes, insurance companies will refuse to pay for costs.
If this happens, you may need to seek the help of a bad faith insurance lawyer. Fast.
Today, we’re going to take a closer look so you know what to do if you find yourself in this situation. Let’s get started …
Should You Hire A Bad Faith Insurance Lawyer?
You want to protect yourself from injury or loss of property, expensive repairs, injuries or losses to others that are linked to you, so you purchase insurance.
Insurance is supposed to take care of any damages that are covered by your policy. That is what you expect and what you pay for. Insurance companies have responsibilities to fulfill the terms of the contract you and they signed.
But what happens if an accident happens and you get hurt, and the insurance company refuses to pay your claim? Or the insurance company refuses to properly defend you from the claims of others? In these cases, the insurance company is acting in bad faith.
Let’s look at some of those insurance company responsibilities and then at some examples of how the companies can act in bad faith.
Insurance Companies Have Responsibilities to Policyholders
Insurance companies have clear duties to policyholders and must fulfill them in good faith.
A few of those responsibilities include the following:
Responsibility to investigate:
An insurance company has the duty to conduct a proper investigation of a policyholder claim and provide its findings and an evaluation in a reasonable amount of time
Responsibility to indemnify:
An insurer has a responsibility to pay a settlement agreement or judgment entered against the policyholder, up to the limit of the policy coverage.
Responsibility to defend:
An insurer must defend the policyholder against a claim, even if parts of the lawsuit are not covered by the policy.
Responsibility to settle reasonably:
Some states and jurisdictions recognize another insurer responsibility, and that is to settle reasonably. The reason is that a lawsuit could expose the policyholder to damages beyond the limits of the policy.
Hiring an attorney would help you determine the views of your jurisdiction concerning bad faith insurance laws, as it may have its own tests for when a law has been violated.
There is legal basis for violations
If an insurance company fails to uphold its end of an insurance contract and acts in bad faith (to protect its profits, for example), it may be committing a breach of contract.
The policyholder pays premiums in return for insurance coverage, defense, and the monetary value of the policy. Failure to honor these duties can be subject to lawsuits.
In some jurisdictions, a violation of these insurance duties can be considered a tort, a civil wrong in which one party causes harm to another. A breach of contract usually results in compensatory damages. A tort may result in both compensatory and punitive damages, a combination that frequently is more than the value of the policy.
There are many types of bad faith practices
Individual states define the types of actions that represent bad faith by insurance companies in their state. The presence of any one of those actions may be grounds to consider action. But there is more to it, and there are other elements to also consider.
A common law claim requires proof that your insurance company’s conduct was unreasonable and that the insurance company knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that its conduct was unreasonable.
A statutory claim only requires proof that the insurance company delayed or denied a benefit to which the policyholder was entitled.
In the case where an insurance company delays the time it takes to investigate a claim before agreeing to pay, in an effort to discourage the policyholder and hoping he will give up the claim, that company can be guilty of a statutory violation.
To prevent this, many states set deadlines for insurance companies to accept or deny claims, ranging from 15 to 60 days.
In the case where an insurance adjuster denies a claim or makes a less-than-adequate assessment, ignoring the estimates of a repair shop or failing to make a personal inspection, may be guilty of failing to conduct a complete investigation,
In the case where an insurance company fails to disclose the existence of coverage or fails to notify you of a claim deadline or doesn’t give you necessary filing papers, the company may be guilty of deceptive practices.
In the case where an insurance offers a very low payment that is much less than the claim is worth or refuses to pay anything for a valid claim can also be guilty of bad faith practices.
If an insurer makes a threat of any kind to you as a policyholder or to third parties who are making a claim, you should contact an attorney or call the California insurance board.
These are some examples of the many kinds of bad faith practices out there. These are the times you should hire a bad faith insurance lawyer. He will know the bad faith laws in California and will guide you through the claims process.
The lawyer will do a detailed examination of your insurance policy and help determine if your insurer’s actions were committed in bad faith. He will also outline the best strategy for maximizing a resolution for you. Often, the settlements are much better when the insurance company knows an attorney is involved.
Hire a lawyer for the best result possible
If you have suffered some loss from a fire, theft, accident or some other major damage, and you have filed a claim, you are expecting a satisfactory outcome.
But if you do not trust your insurance company or are feeling the company is not responding to your claim in a reasonable time, your next step should be to contact an attorney.
A bath faith insurance lawyer will tell you what your rights are. He will help you educate yourself on what can and should happen and what the insurance company is responsible for under the law.
The lawyer will advise you on the details of your policy including the Declarations Page, the Endorsements, and Riders. This information covers the dollar limits on various categories of coverage and lists the extras that are covered.
He will review with you your basic coverage categories, like Dwelling, Contents (Personal Property), and Loss of Use(Additional Living Expenses).
He may discuss alternatives to litigation such as negotiation, mediation or arbitration – areas where legal assistance is still very valuable.
The best way to find a bad faith insurance lawyer in California is to contact a certified attorney referral service who can recommend referrals for Plaintiffs Insurance Coverage or Bad Faith Attorneys. The referral service can give you the potential candidates that are right for you.
Are you in search for a certified attorney to represent you?
Let us help you find one today!
